With a front-row seat to his trial on charges of influence peddling, money laundering and forgery, Jacques Corriveau, now white-haired and 83, seems somewhat frail and helpless, shaking his head whenever he hears something disagreeable about his past as an alleged bagman for the Liberal Party of Canada, or whispering something to his wife in disdain.

But during closing arguments in his trial Monday, a jury was painted a different picture of Corriveau as he was 20 years ago, when he allegedly used his considerable influence with the Liberal party to get dodgy sponsorship contracts for advertising agencies in Quebec — and pocketed $7 million in commissions.

Crown prosecutor Jacques Dagenais began by establishing the links between Corriveau and then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, going back to 1984 when Corriveau backed Chrétien in the leadership contest with John Turner.

In the years to come, Corriveau occasionally slept over at 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minster’s residence in Ottawa. He swam laps with Chrétien in the morning, and played piano with his wife Aline, Dagenais said.

And Corriveau, a Montreal-based designer by trade, gave Chrétien’s troubled son Michel a job when no one else would, after Michel went to prison for sexual assault.

In short, if there was someone in bed with Aline and Jean at 24 Sussex Drive, it was Jacques Corriveau, Dagenais said, borrowing words from Charles Guité, the federal public servant who ran the sponsorship program.

“We may doubt that (Corriveau) used his influence with the prime minister directly,” Dagenais told the jury — Chrétien was never called to testify. “But the aura that he enjoyed came from his reputation that he was in Chretien’s closest circle.”

It was after Chrétien was first elected in 1993 that Corriveau’s business took off, Dagenais said.

The jury heard that Corriveau first dealt with Lafleur Communications advertising executive Jean Lafleur, securing government contracts for him in return for payment.

Then when Corriveau and Lafleur had a falling-out, Corriveau turned his sights to Luc Lemay, former president of communications firm Polygone.

That was after the close 1995 sovereignty referendum, when the sponsorship program was set up by the Chrétien government to remind Quebecers of the federal government’s role and to encourage national unity in Quebec.

In 2005, after a lengthy inquiry, Justice John Gomery concluded that Liberal Party officials ran “an elaborate kickback” scheme throughout the program to fund the party’s Quebec wing.

Now, 11 years later, the court heard the Crown’s contention of how the sponsorship program benefitted Corriveau especially.

Over three days of testimony, Lemay described how he received $40 million in sponsorship contracts starting in 1997, and gave 17.5 per cent of it to Corriveau, paying off 200 false invoices for services never rendered.

He also testified that Corriveau had him pay some of the Liberal party’s expenses — for a photographer and office supplies, for example, and to hire failed candidates — worth about $1 million.

Everything went through Corriveau, Lemay said.

Prior to working with Corriveau, Lemay had tried to get sponsorships for $5,000 and was refused. With Corriveau, he got $40 million.

According to Dagenais, it was especially by exerting influence on Guité, the director of the federal Public Works Department, that Corriveau got money for the firms.

Through various documents, Dagenais showed that Corriveau met with Guité some 36 times over 18 months in 1994 and 1995.

But when the RCMP searched for Corriveau’s agendas or notebooks relating to the time of the alleged crimes — 1997 to 2003 — they found nothing.

Dagenais relied instead on the testimony of executives like Jean Brault, the president of Groupaction, who also spoke to Corriveau’s influence with Guité.

In a meeting with both men, Brault said Corriveau asked him to “hire” Serge Gosselin, a Liberal party worker, for $80,000 a year. Then he turned to Guité and told him to get a contract to Jean Brault to pay him back.

“Guité was Corriveau’s valet,” Dagenais said. “Corriveau had him in his pocket.”

Brault would eventually plead guilty to fraud charges for that contract — $250,000 for a job worth no more than $25,000 — to provide a list of events in Quebec where the federal government could increase its visibility.

But Dagenais said it was Corriveau calling the shots: Some times it was Corriveau who called Brault to let him know he got an $8 million sponsorship contract — the day before he received the official fax from Guité’s department.

In closing, Crown prosecutor Fotini Hadjis told the jury the Crown was only able to recover — and freeze — $1.35 million of Corriveau’s assets, and presented a synopsis of how he spent the money.

About $450,000 went to his home renovations, including a wine cellar and “music room”; $900,000 went into investment accounts; and Corriveau and his wife’s lifestyle improved considerably, with an annual budget of $252,000, including $81,000 in travel expenses.

Corriveau himself didn’t testify during the trial. But one witness, Daniel Dezainde, the former director of the Liberal party’s Quebec wing, said he confronted Corriveau about using his influence to make millions without doing any work.

“I’m a businessman,” he said Corriveau told him. “This is how I earn my living.”

“It was a lucrative living,” Dagenais told the court. “But not a legal one.”

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